Tuesday, July 7, 2015

URFAD: The Barbarian

This is the bonus class I would be most likely to introduce into my campaign, because it proceeds from a grounding in its history and geography (though with the exact details still to be worked out). Unfortunately it’s also the most complicated bonus class (the only one extending over a single page) and it still needs work as far as the special weapons/attacks go. A lot of streamlining has taken place—the first version of this from a few years ago relied on introducing mana points, from there the special attacks were relegated by Wisdom + level, then later Constitution + level—and this also has been walked back from being mistaken as a berserker class thanks to wisdom gained from reading a couple of threads over at odd74.proboards.com/. From that forum, also, I procured the idea of a penalty to reactions. As always, I’m open to suggestions (except, perhaps, as concerns the level titles, I had a lot of fun with those and the only pause I have right now is whether to replace “Hellbreaker” with “Destroyer”).______________________________________

Barbarian Level Progression

Level

Title

XP

HD

Atk

1

Roughneck

0

1+1

+1

2

Warrior

2,000

2+1

+2

3

Hetman

4,000

3+1

+3

4

Hero

8,000

4+2

+4

5

Hellbreaker

16,000

5+2

+5

6

Oathtaker

32,000

6+2

+6

7

Lawgiver

64,000

7+3

+7

8

Superhero

120,000

8+3

+8

9

Conqueror

240,000

9+3

+9

10

Lord

360,000

10+4

+10

Barbarian in this case refers to any member of the various nomadic clans, remnants of the lost civilization of Barbairos, who share the same mysterious heritage. Outsiders among the kingdoms, the barbarians mostly keep to themselves and their own ancient customs and rites. And though definitely a minority, barbarian clans may be found in any sparsely populated region. Barbarian warriors believe that the power of their gods and the spirit of their ancestors are manifest in their weapons as achieved through ritual incantations and engravings. Each warrior’s “spirit weapon” has a magical property, allowing special attacks.

Barbarians have the level progression, hit dice, and attack bonus of fighters. They may use any weapon without penalty, including slings. Barbarians do not wear armor (at least not unless they find themselves settling down as the head of a castle or stronghold), but they do use shields and helms. Barbarians with 13 Strength and 13 Dexterity can dual wield as per fighters.

The prime requisites for barbarians are Strength and Constitution. A barbarian with a score of 13 or greater in both Strength and Constitution receives a 5% earned experience bonus. Barbarians with a score of 16 or greater in both receive an earned experience bonus of 10%. Barbarians must have a minimum score of 13 in Strength and 9 in Wisdom and Constitution.

Barbarians with Intelligence 9 or higher will be familiar enough with Common to speak it, but only those with Intelligence 13 or higher will read and write it. Barbarians will not rely on hirelings or retainers (unless, again, they have built, or are in the process of building, a castle or stronghold at level 9 or 10), but they have been known to reluctantly accept followers.

Barbarians have a +2 bonus for disease- and poison-based saves. They have a –3 for all reaction rolls with other humans (may be partially offset by high Charisma), but any human who does follow a barbarian need not check loyalty (assuming no blatant maltreatment).

Each barbarian’s spirit weapon has a special attack that may be used once per day per every third level (round up), but no one special attack may be used more than once in a single battle. Barbarians may wield their spirit weapons one-handed or two-handed. Their battle axes and great swords are treated as per the weapons table. Their clubs and hammers deal 1–6 damage (one-handed) or 1–8 damage (two-handed).